February 9, 2015

After visiting the Museo Antropológico Martin Gusinde and studying the case of arrowheads, punzón, and stone knives, Tormentina was convinced that some of the objects she found along the shore of the Beagle and Seno Lauta are Yahgan artifacts. She took her stone knife and bone to the museum this week so they could be analyzed by the lab.

February 7, 2015

Phytoplankton lab day on board Anasazi Girl: French biologist Jacky Jumbou teaches Tormentina and Raivo how to collect seawater from Seno Lauta, pour it through an 80µ filter, drop samples onto a slide, and how to use a microscope to view the plankton.

It is often a cacophony of German, Russian, French, Spanish, and English on the big raft yacht club we call the Micalvi. No language barriers here as Tormentina came away from her "French" science class telling me that the phytoplankton is very important because it gives us our oxygen to breathe.

February 3, 2015

Thanks to the generous gift of Nicolás Ibáñez Scott, Tormentina (at age 6) is learning how to sail an optimist at the southern-most sailing school of the world on the waters of the Beagle Channel and Seno Lauta. She absolutely loves her teacher Mau Carrizo, now counting down the days until weekend lessons, and telling us that she has found her "meditation."

Tormentina with her sailing instructor Mau Carrizo and his assistant Alex Neira at the Puerto Williams sailing school.
The school was built (on the shore of Seno Lauta) and donated to the community by Chilean businessman Nicolás Ibáñez Scott.
Puerto Williams, Isla Navarino - CHILE / XII Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena (Enero 2015)

The Stirling house is now part of the "Stirling Pavillion" at the Martin Gusinde Anthropological Museum of Puerto Williams. The building is a pre-fab, planned structure made of cast iron by the Iron Works of Mr. Hemming & Co., Old Ford, in 1869 for the South American Mission Society.

The unassembled parts were shipped first to Port Stanley (Falkland Islands), then to Tierra del Fuego where it was constructed in Ushuaia and used as a missionary residence. Between 1871 and 1907 it was moved various times by the missions - to Bailey Island, then Tekenika Bay on Hoste Island, and finally to Douglas Bay on Navarino Island.

After 1916 when the missions were closed, the house was then used by various residents. Declared a national Chilean monument in 2003, the building was then moved in 2004 by sea from Douglas Bay to Puerto Williams, reassembled on the museum grounds and is now open to the public. (Ref: From Wikipedia/Martin Guisinde Anthropological Museum)